Enhancement of the performance of ZnO based natural dye sensitized solar cells via PVA morphology controlled nanorods

ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via low temperature hydrothermal synthesis procedures at 90 °C using zinc nitrate hexahydrate as the zinc oxide precursors and hexamethyleneamine as the precipitating agent. The structural, surface morphology and optical studies of the hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanoparticles revealed that the synthesized products were nano-rods, grown in very high-density with well-crystalline wurtzite hexagonal phase and good optical properties. Ployvinyl alcohol (PVA) was used as surfactant to modify the surface features of the ZnO nanorods. The ZnO nano-rods were employed as photo-anode for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and were sensitized by natural dye extracted from Baphia nitida plant. The photovoltaic characteristics of the cell such as the short circuit current, open circuit voltage as well as the shunt and series resistances of the cell were studied. The incident photon to current conversion efficiency was also studied. The study revealed that the PVA improved the overall photo-conversion efficiency of the DSSC.